Fiore Mental Asylum
by Aviakakes
Summary: Natsu Dragneel did not expect that for his community service that he would have to work at a mental asylum for 6 months. He really didn't expect for him to make new friends with the people there. And he certainly did not expect falling in love with one of the blonde-haired patients.
1. Chapter 1

It was either this or picking up trash outside where it was blazing hot, which literally could melt you into a puddle.

Natsu Dragneel didn't want to volunteer at the mental place, it was his stupid friend's fault for getting him in trouble with the police. They had both planned to get revenge on their old lady neighbor, Miss Poryuscia, but things stabbed them in the back when Poryuscia found then trying to put the rotten eggs in her car trunk.

His friend, Ray Lahee, ran away before the police could chase after them both. Natsu was caught, while Ray hid behind the bushes, watching it all happen. Natsu was forced to do community service, working at some hospital for "special people". Natsu didn't really feel like melting to death outside, so he chose the hospital.

There he stood at the big doors of the hospital, with a little piece of paper in his hands, with directions messily scribbled on it. Natsu sighed and pressed the intercom button that was on the side of the door. The intercom came out all fuzzy and confusing.

"_Csh- Hello? Who is this?" _A voice rang out. It sounded like a woman's voice. Natsu pressed the button and tried to speak as clearly as he could.

"Uh, I'm visiting this place for community service? Natsu Dragneel?" Natsu wanted to hit himself on the head. He sounded so stupid right now. It took a few seconds for the intercom to answer back, but now it was a bit more clear.

_"Natsu Dragneel? Ah-yes, you are volunteering here, I see your name on the list right here. Come on in." _The voice spoke. As the last words were spoken, the doors made a little _boom _sound, and started to open slowly. It fully opened, revealing a gorgeous white-haired woman at a desk. Natsu scratched his pink hair, stepping towards the desk.

The woman smiled at him, an actual friendly one. The woman was absolutely beautiful, and Natsu tried to figure out her name. He spotted a name tag on her chest, and Natsu had to squint and tried to read it. _Mira._

Mira smiled at him and typed at the computer. "So Natsu Dragneel, right? Wow, we hadn't had a volunteer for ages." She said, while pressing enter on the keyboard.

"Er, yeah," Natsu said, not really knowing what to say. Mira only smiled at him again, and stood up from the desk. Walking around, she opened a little door and stepped out to where Natsu was. She started walking to the halls, with Natsu just standing back at the desk. Mira turned around and waved her hand.

"Come on, I will show you around," Mira said, gesturing Natsu to follow her.

"Oh, right," Natsu said awkwardly, walking a bit fast to keep up with Mira's pace. Mira walked surprisingly fast, making Natsu almost struggling to keep up with the white-haired beauty.

"All of the patients are doing their activities in their rooms right now, you can meet them when it's lunch, which is at 12:30," Mira slightly rambled, gesturing her hands who-knows-where. Natsu looked around, strangely, almost everything was white. There would be splashes of color here and there, but it was just _white. _

Natsu never felt more awkward in his life.

Finally, at the end of the tour, Natsu could barely remember anything. He had been spacing out the whole entire time, probably plotting Ray's murder for getting him caught and making him volunteer at this hospital full of crazy people.

"Finally, here is your room," Mira said, gesturing torwards a room, with a label on it called: _Room 106. _This caught Natsu's attention.

"Oh thanks-Wait, room?" Natsu was caught off guard. He did _not_ read anything about living at the mental hospital. "I didn't bring any luggage though."

"Those are arriving at the hospital soon- Oh, their they are!" Mira pointed. As if on que, a man carried three luggage bags, walking towards them while hauling the heavy luggage with him. Mira only smiled and thanked the man, giving him a four dollar tip. Natsu could only stare at the luggage and room in shock.

"Is there something wrong?" Mira peered at Natsu, looking at him with curious eyes.

"I-I didn't know I was going to live here.." Natsu said, still in shock from hearing the news. Mira gasped.

"Oh no! You didn't know you were living here? I'm so sorry! I messed up. It's my fault for not putting that in the contract. Now you're here, probably wanting to go home, and it's all my fault! I'm so sorry!" Mira cried, covering her face with her hands, making little sobs.

Natsu was flabbergasted. He wasn't exactly good with girls who cried. Last time, it ended with a sharp stick doll, a poke in the eye, then a trip to the emergency room. Natsu didn't know what to do, so he did what came to mind. Freak out.

"Uh-No! Don't cry, please. Just don't cry, um-I don't mind living here! Yeah-It'll be fun, and I will Er-meet lots of new friends! Please don't cry my father will kill me if I send another girl to the emergency room!" Natsu stuttered, trying to calm the sobbing white-haired woman down, who was still crying in her hands.

"S-so, you don't mind living here?" Mira sniffed, her head still in her hands.

"I-I don't mind at all!" Natsu burst out, hoping to have stopped the woman's cries. Mira perked up, and rose her head up. Her face was made into a smile again, and started walking back.

"Thank you! Enjoy your life at Fiore Mental Asylum!" Mira smiled and waved, and walked away.

Once again, Natsu was flabbergasted.

* * *

Natsu watched the clock in his room tick to 12:00.

He had stuffed the clothes that were in his luggage in the little mahogany dresser, which was across his own plain, white bed. Till then, he was just sitting there, staring at the clock that was above his door.

Natsu still didn't believe he had to live here. It was probably his father, Igneel, who had set it up. Igneel tried to teach Natsu a "lesson" for trying to sabotage Miss Poryuscia's car trunk with rotten eggs. Natsu didn't really know what the lesson was, but he sure was miserable.

Getting up from the bed, Natsu opened the door and stepped outside into the blank, white hallway. There seemed to be no one in sight, so he walked down the hallway with ease. He slightly remembered how to get the cafeteria, seemingly it had only to do with food. Natsu slide open the doors to the cafeteria, to see Mira helping the cooks prepare for lunch and dinner. Mira looked at Natsu, and smiled at him.

"Hello Natsu! Want to help with cooking?" Mira called, gesturing Natsu to come over. Natsu walked over, and saw that the chefs were making Mac n' Cheese, and noodle soup. It seemed like a slightly strange meal to Natsu, but everything looked fine to him.

"Um, I don't really know how to cook so," Natsu said, not really knowing to say, mostly because he was lazy and actually didn't really want to help. Mira nodded, understanding.

"Alright, the patients will be arriving in about 5 minutes, so how about you take a seat then get in line?" Mira asked, pointing to a seat in front of her. Natsu nodded, then took a seat. He was anxious and nervous to meet the patients.

After 5 minutes, the patients started arriving.

* * *

They pretty much looked like normal people.

Mira started to point out the people, saying their names, or how they got in the hospital.

"There's Erza Scarlet," Mira said, pointing to a scarlet-haired girl. She held a look of determination, and pride. "She has a tendency to be a bit violent, and bossy, she's here because she went a bit.. Insecure from a incident that happened in the past." Natsu nodded looking at Erza as she gathered her meal and sat down at a table.

A raven-haired man walked in, half of the buttons of his shirt unbuttoned. Natsu felt some sort of weirdness from him. Mira noticed Natsu looking at the man, and whispered to Natsu in his ear.

"Thats Gray Fullbuster. He tends to get hot, whether it's hot or cold, so he usually leaves is shirt open or off. He literally loves ice. The reason why he is in the hospital, when his mother died, people claimed he did it. Gray thought otherwise. He says a demon killed his mom, and vowed to get revenge. People thought he was going crazy, and he ended up here." Mira said, both of them watching as Gray grabbed a tray and started to walk to Erza's table.

Natsu strangely wanted to become friends with them. He slowly watched as the cafeteria filled up, no one taking a step to sit at Gray and Erza's table. When lunch was halfway other, Natsu thought everyone had arrived. He was wrong.

The doors of the cafeteria opened, no one looking at the doors and resumed eating. No one even payed attention except for Gray and Erza. A blonde-haired girl walked to the serving table, and took the last tray. A little of her hair was tied up into a little blue bow, and was wearing a regular white dress like all the other girls in this hospital were.

She started walking to Gray and Erza's table, with them staring at her. She did something that Natsu thought no one would do in that situation. She _laughed. _

"Come on guys, your taking up all the room. At least let Loki sit down," she said, slightly pushing Erza to the side. Erza scooted over, letting a large space rest between her and Lucy. Gray and Erza resumed eating as normal.

She talked to them, occasionally mentioning someone named Loki, then joking and laughing with both of them. Natsu stared at the three of them, a confused look on his face.

_Loki?_ Natsu thought, scrunching his eyebrows together. _There's no one there. _

Mira noticed Natsu staring at the trio, and quickly explained. "That's Lucy Heartfilia. She's means she sees things that aren't actually there. Like people, for example." Mira gestured to Lucy smiling at the empty space between Erza and her. "Ever since both of her parents died, she's been traumatized. So, to fill in the empty space, she made imaginary friends. Now, she actually thinks they're real."

"Then why is Gray and Erza going along-" Natsu started.

"They don't want to hurt her feelings. She's probably the sweetest girl you'll ever meet. She's practically their only best friend besides eachother," Mira finished, going back to her clipboard.

"Anyway, grab some lunch and eat, I have to go check on a patient," Mira pointed to a new, fresh tray in front of Natsu. She waved away and walked out a door.

Natsu grabbed the tray and sat at an empty table, watching the trio interact with eachother. Great, now he felt like a stalker. When lunch was over, he watched every patient disappear out the cafeteria door. Lucy Heartfilia was the last to exit. Before going, she noticed Natsu. She waved at him, and smiled before exiting.

Natsu realized he had a tiny smile on his face as he walked back to his room. He sat on his bed for hours, until it was lights out. Natsu changed into his pajamias, and threw the white covers over him. All he could think of was one thing.

Something about Lucy Heartfilia intrigued him.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Characters may be OOC, and there is swearing in the story. Note: This is NOT a representation of a real Asylum. _**

* * *

Natsu was drowning in papers. Literally.

"This is the names of everyone in this section of the hospital," Mira chirped, piling a inch thick stack on top on Natsu's arms. "Also the daily routine, lunch- menus, and your schedule."

"_My _schedule?" Natsu asked, looking at the names of the list. It looked like this.

_Natsu Dragneel's Patients_

_-**Gray Fullbuster**_

_**-Erza Scarlet**_

_**-Gajeel Redfox**_

_**-Lucy Heartfilia**_

"You don't know?" Mirajane asked innocently. "You are a 'Therapist'. All you do is ask them the questions on the paper and write their answers down. You ask more about their opinions on things and write them down. You study their expressions and body movements and write them down. It's simple."

"I thought that this was community service. Y'know, like washing dishes or whatever," Natsu said, biting his lip.

"This is community service. You ended up here because you did something stupid, alright? If you think that this is a punishment, getting to work with all of these kind people, then you better look for another community service that will accept you." Mirajane said, a lace of malice lining her voice. She cleared her throat, softening her expression.

"I-I I'm sorry," she apologized. "There's just been so many people that come here for community service and they just are horrible-, I'm sure you're not like that at all, Natsu. I'm just tired, I promise. Well, breakfast is starting, okay? I heard that there's toast. Better go get them!" Mira scurried away, with the leftover papers in her arms.

Natsu didn't know what to think. Sure, he wasn't expecting to be a therapist, but if all he did was write stuff down, then the job wasn't going to be that hard. (He had terrible handwriting, but what can ya' do?) He studied the list again, his heart jumping slightly at the name at the bottom.

_Lucy Heartfilia_. The girl yesterday with the friendly smile. She radiated a brightness, a _pureness_ that didn't seem like it belonged in a crazy asylum. He could tell that everyone around her lit up when she approached them, a smile planting right on their faces as she laughed with them. Even that Gray and Erza people, who seemed like they were made of ice, seemed to melt as Lucy sat with them.

He was curious. Curious to see how her personality was like. Curious to see what her expression was like. Curious to see her _smile._

A shrill bell rang, almost like one in an elementary school. Natsu could hear shuffling outside his room walls, looking down the sheet infront of him. It was breakfast. With his heart thumping in his chest, Natsu gathered his items, and headed out to the cafeteria to try and sit with that trio he saw yesterday.

* * *

A gloop of scrambled eggs was plopped in his bowl, a light steam rolling off the eggs. _Mira lied, there was no toast at all, _Natsu thought, fuming silently to himself. A dozen of other patients were in the food line, making Natsu delay the line as he angered over toast.

"Get a move on, pinkie," A voice called out to him. Snapping out of his angry toast fest, he looked at the source of the voice.

_Isn't that the guy from yesterday? _Natsu thought. It was Gray, who was clearly ignoring the dress code. He had no shirt on, and a tray full of this breakfast foods was clutched in his hand. He had an irritated expression, his eyes glaring into Natsu's onyx ones.

"Oi, you probably shouldn't be talking to your therapist like that," Natsu boasted, puffing his chest out. "It seems like you're the first one on the list."

"_You're my new therapist?_" Gray said in disbelief. He scoffed, suddenly digging into Natsu's bag and pulling out the patient list.

"Me, Gajeel, and Erza...?" He looked over the list, and burst out laughing. "Oh, you won't even last to get to Lucy's turn!"

"What?" Natsu rolled his eyes.

"Please, there's a reason why all 4 of us needed a new therapist," Gray deeply laughed, shoving the paper back into Natsu's bag. He walked away, food in tow, heading over to a table filled with people.

Grunting in frustration, Natsu idiotically followed him. _He _would have the last word, not some shirtless freak. Sitting down right next to Gray at the new table, he realized he had just sat down with 3 other people, who were all staring at him.

"O-oh, sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Yo Erza, Gajeel, this is our new pink therapist," Gray interrupted him, gesturing to Erza and the mysterious person. Natsu looked at the mentioned "Gajeel". He was muscular, and had long, rough, black messy hair that rolled down his back. His red eyes flicked to Natsu, scanning him over.

"Psh, he won't even last till Erza," Gajeel waved him off. He grinned, shoving scrambled eggs into his mouth, as a petite blue-haired girl sat next to him.

"Don't be rude, Mira said that we were supposed to be gentle to the new guy," she said, swatting Gajeel on the arm. Gajeel pretended to be deeply wounded, even though her slap did sting a little. She turned to Natsu with a friendly smile.

"I'm Levy, and I have another therapist, but I'm glad to meet you," She said. Her blue locks were tied back by for what seemed to be a stray piece of cloth. She was very small, and seemed friendly. Natsu's guard melted away.

"I'm Natsu," he said. The awkward tension seemed to rise, making Natsu nervously eat his scrambled eggs. Gray and Erza seemed to be talking on their own, and Levy was scolding Gajeel for not eating the carrots on the side.

_What am I supposed to do now? _He thought. Eating his eggs, Natsu didn't even notice a blonde approaching behind him. The rest of the table visibly relaxed, looking behind Natsu. He looked up from his bowl, and then blushed.

"Could you all stop staring at me? I mean, I know I'm kinda handso-"

"Shut up, Lucy's here," Gray annoyingly said, rolling his eyes and pointing above Natsu's head.

A quiet, charmful giggle came from behind him. Slowly turning backwards, his onyx eyes met the warmest brown eyes. Lucy smiled at him, as Natsu's heart lurched forwards.

"Hi," Her melodic voice rang throughout the table. "I'm guessing you are our new therapist?"

Natsu's face felt like he was on fire. His eyes were locked on to hers, and he could feel everybody else's fierce stares in his back. Her stray hairs lightly framed her face, while the rest was tied up into a side ponytail with a white cloth. He slightly nodded, not being able to form words.

Gray and Gajeel howled with laughter, breaking the stare between the two. Tears were forming at their eyes, as they wheezed at them. Levy nudged Gajeel, trying to get him to stop as she was trying not to laugh.

"You should have seen your face!" Gray said, leaning backwards, almost falling out of his chair.

"I've never seen such a lovesick boy!" Gajeel howled, as Levy slapped him harder. She and Erza too, were holding back giggles.

"Shut up you two!" Natsu spat, his blush getting fiercer by the second. Lucy quietly sat down, a small smile dancing across her lips as she ate her breakfast meal.

"Oh my gosh, I've never seen it happen so quick!" Gray still laughed. Erza rolled her eyes at him, sneaking a piece of bacon onto her place as Gray was laughing.

Natsu turned his head away from the obnoxious two, facing Lucy. "Yes, I am your new therapist." He managed to say without stuttering. Suddenly, the bell shrilled again, signaling the end of breakfast.

"Well, time for check-ups, so I guess we'll be seeing you again," Erza stood up, walking away from the table. Gajeel and Levy walked away also, arguing over who drank the most chocolate milk.

"Argh, I'm first," Gray groaned. "I'll see you in the "investigation" room," And with that, he walked out the doors.

Sighing, Natsu looked down and started to get up from the table also.

"Wait," A voice rang from next to him. "What's your name?" Lucy asked him, tugging on his sleeve.

"N-Natsu," he said, cursing himself for stuttering. Lucy smiled at him, and walked away. Natsu shook his head, slapping his face to try and get rid of the blush he had.

_I gotta go do my community service now._

* * *

Entering the room, Natsu was met with a brown reclining chair and a shirtless boy.

"Would you put a damn shirt on?" Natsu pinched the bridge of his nose.

"No." Gray simply replied, playing with a thread on his chair.

Natsu walked over, and sat across from him. Pulling out the papers from his bag, and a few pencils, Natsu grabbed a clipboard, and put on some old reading glasses.

"Take those glasses off. I know you don't need them and you look stupid," Gray snarkily said, rolling his eyes. A small smile graced his face.

"How would you know that?" Natsu retorted, pouting his lip and crossing his arms.

"Because you're going cross-eyed and the glasses are super dirty,"

"Um.."

"Ask me the damn questions. We don't have much time, alright? And we don't wanna give an incomplete report." Gray said, changing back to his grouchy attitude.

"Fine," Natsu said. He was only trying to lighten the mood between them.

"How are you today?" Natsu read outloud, only to cringe at the formal words. He had his pencil ready in his hand, gripping the clipboard.

"Okay." Gray replied.

"'Okay'", Natsu repeated, writing the word down.

"What made you transfer into this asylum?" He read automatically, then by the sudden change in questions. It went from simple to revealing their backstory that quick? Maybe he shouldn't have asked it.

"My mom was killed by a fucking demon, alright? I saw it with my own eyes. He came in, slaughtered her right in front of me. Wake up the next morning, everyone thinks it me who did it. Why would I murder my own mom? I spent so many years trying to find that damned demon, until my town finally shipped me out to this cahoot." Gray spat.

Taken by surprise, Natsu snapped out of his trance, and scribbled his furious words down. Gulping, he took a peek up to see Gray's expression. He was sitting sitting there, playing with a pen, looking bored. Had he done this so many times that he no longer felt any emotion towards his words? Natsu's expression softened.

"Quit looking at me like that. I hate it."

"Sorry, I just-"

"Save it. I'm already safe enough to be let out of this hospital, but they won't let me out of this place," Gray said, clenching his jaw. "If I got Erza, Lucy and the others, then I won't really mind as much. I would have gone insane by now if it weren't for them." His body demenor relaxed.

"But," He tensed up again. "I know you got a little school boy crush on Lucy, alright? Listen, it happens over and over. Lucy is basically the only pure thing in the hell hole, and you dare to taint it by a bit, Erza and the others, and also me, will fucking tear you apart."

Natsu's mouth gaped open like a fish. He hadn't expected all of those words to come out of Gray's mouth. He stood up straighter, looking more professional.

"Don't worry Gray, I don't even h-have a crush on Lucy," Cursing himself for stuttering once again, "I-I believe your story. And you better get justice alright? I'm on your side.

Gray's eyebrows furrowed together, as he examined Natsu. Wearing a complexed expression, he sat up and walked out the door, right when the timer went off.

The session was over.

* * *

To say Natsu was nervous was an understatement. It was more like he was _terrified._

They had been sitting there in silence for what seemed to be a century. An intimidating red-head was staring at him, while a rough-looking muscle man was _glaring _at him. For some reason, both Erza Scarlet and Gajeel Redfox, two of the most scariest people in the asylum, was in a room with a pink-haired man.

"Hi?" Natsu awkwardly said, trying to break the atmosphere. Mentally, he was sweating bullets.

"Unfortunately for you, there was a change of schedule and so Gajeel and I will be together with you in one session." Erza said crisply, crossing her arms and legs to look even _more _intimidating.

"Don't worry though, little Lucy will be alone in the next session," Gajeel snickered, only to have his ribcage severly bruised by a light nudge of Erza's elbow.

"And so, ask us the questions," Erza said, gesturing at his clipboard.

Natsu was starting to sweat in real life. His eyes quickly darted to his paper, stuttering out the "How are you today's" to both of them. He was _really _starting to hate Miss Poryuscia and her car.

"Fine," Erza said.

"Hungry," Gajeel grunted.

"What? We just had breakfast. And you had that piece of bacon you stole from Levy's plate." Erza accused him.

"Shut up woman, you think a small bowl of scrambled eggs is going to satisfy me?" Gajeel scoffed, before realizing his deadly mistake. Before he could bow down and beg for forgiveness-

"_What did you say to me?" _Erza threatened, a dark aura surrounded her, as she glared at Gajeel, as he visibly trembled.

"I-I I'm sorry! Please forgive me, I'm full! I swear! My brain was starved!" Gajeel whimpered, raising his hands to defend himself.

Natsu burst out laughing, pausing from writing. They were so _normal _, like regular people. Why were they in an asylum? They both seemed like people he would hang out with, playing video games and eating over-cooked pizza. Wiping tears from his eyes, he motioned for them to continue.

Erza sighed. "Damnit Gajeel, we were supposed to be big and scary to drive him off. It was going to be our 6th one!"

"Sorry Erza, but I really was hungry," he mumbled, sitting back onto his seat.

"Whatever, we have only a few minutes left, so let's just get it over with." Erza sat in her seat, crossing her legs. She gestured for Natsu to ask them the question.

"Oh! Um, why are you in this hospital?" Natsu questioned, still giddy from the hilarious scene from earlier. He felt more relaxed than before.

"Write down that I don't wanna answer. Gajeel?" She looked at him, to see if he would reveal his story.

"I got issues, kay? I used to be a part of some gang that used metal stuff to hurt people. Gone all crazy with metal, they started to worship it or some shit like that. I got caught up in it, and ended up here." He explained. "Now I got Levy and the others, I've calmed down. I honestly don't even need to be here."

Natsu listened carefully, writing all of it down with scribbly handwriting. "I didn't even know there were gangs like that. That would explain why you look so rough and tough. Deep down you're probably a softie, right? Especially in front of that girl, what was her name? Levy? Yeah. You two don't actually act bad at all." He rambled, not looking up and realizing the effect of his words.

The timer rang, as Erza and Gajeel wore strange expressions. Not saying a word to Natsu, they muttered to eachother, walking straight out the door.

* * *

Natsu looked nervously at his list, waiting for the newcomer to arrive.

Why was he so nervous? It was just a girl. A really pretty one. The last encounter he had with a girl, was the stick one. And it was _not _pretty. _You're making a big deal out of nothing, _Natsu thought. Shaking his head, he took out a new sheet of writing paper, and waited. Besides, how much influence can a crazy girl in an asylum have on him?

The door clicked open, and a flash of blond hair stepped into the room.

Natsu's heart was jumping around, as he instantly felt a blush rising to his tanned cheeks.

_A lot._

* * *

_Thank you for reading this story. _

_-Aviakakes_


End file.
